Due to their high strength characteristics, hot-formed and press-quenched parts are used as safety-relevant parts for example in automotive construction. Rim holes and/or collars of parts that are accommodated in other part elements, in particular chassis parts, can be subject to repeated alternating loads. In the case of rim holes having a high degree of hardness, there is an increased likelihood of such permanent repeated loads leading to premature material wear of the parts in the region of the rim holes and/or collars since hard materials have very low ductility and stress peaks cannot be absorbed by elastic deformation. In the case of parts having the same material hardness in the region of the rim holes and/or collars as in other regions of the part, there is therefore an increased risk of breakage. Since in the prior art for example such rim holes with a collar serve as connection interfaces between different vehicle parts, the vehicle safety is very high due to the resulting risk that vehicle parts can come loose from one another or fail suddenly.
Press-quenching methods for creating quenched sheet metal profiles having a rim hole with a projecting collar by inserting a cooled die into a region of the part are known from the prior art, with the intention of achieving a homogeneously high material hardness in the entire part (DE 101 49 220 C1).